christensen’s original plan was actually to retire after the 2011-2012 school year as the xc / track coach
Stillwater MN boys and girls head XC coaches retire
High School Running
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Check out this interview
How did a non-MN kid this young find out about the Stillwater Program and coach?
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Found something in an article about the 2012 XC state meet
Banner day for Ponies
Stillwater’s 2012 state championship banner was hanging in the school gymnasium before the first runner crossed the line on Saturday — or even advanced to state, for that matter.
Three state championship banners were recently added to the rafters in the SAHS gymnasium — including those honoring the 2011 girls’ Nordic ski team and the 2012 softball team. A third banner was supposed to honor last year’s state championship boys’ cross country team, but it mistakenly listed 2012 instead. The error was not discovered until it was already hanging in the gym, but Saturday’s victory means a ordering a new one for 2011, rather than an exchange.
“I hope they don’t put 2013 on it or we’ll have something else to worry about,” Christensen said.10 -
Couple of interesting articles from 2012
“Matt Fronczak — Boys cross country
In a lineup filled with heavy hitters, Matt Fronczak has been perhaps the most pleasant surprise this season for coach Scott Christensen and the top-ranked Stillwater boys’ cross country team.
The senior has never run cross country before this fall and has earned a spot in the state’s best lineup while improving on his personal best time in all six races this season. Fronczak placed 17th overall at Saturday’s Meet of Champions in Alexandria with a time of 16:42.3. Less than a week earlier, Fronczak was Stillwater’s sixth runner and placed 21st overall in a time of 16:56.6 at the Chaska Lions Invitational.”“Fronczak, in fact, has never participated in cross country before this season and has increased his PR in every single race this fall.”Fronczak ran a 16:32 5k at conference that year
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Miller chosen new head coach for Ponies10 -
Ryan Miller has a tough act to follow, but it’s not the first time.
After 10 years as an assistant, Miller has been selected to guide the Stillwater boys cross-country program as its next head coach.
He takes the reins from hall-of-fame coach Scott Christensen, who stepped down this spring after 42 seasons of ensuring the cross-country and track and field programs resided among the best in the state.
It’s a tremendous opportunity that also comes with some mixed emotions for Miller, who also teaches history at Stillwater Area High School.
“It’s a two-sided coin,” Miller said. “There’s the enormous excitement at the opportunity, but it also comes with the knowledge that coaching with Scott will be over. It’s a bittersweet moment in that regard, but he’s done an incredible job teaching me with his words and actions throughout our years coaching together.”
Miller ran for Christensen before graduating in 2008 and continuing his running career at St. John’s University. In addition to the decade as an assistant with Christensen in cross-country, he has coached track for 10 years at Stillwater Middle School, including two as head coach.
“I’m extremely confident that he will do a good job,” Stillwater Activities Director Ricky Michel said. “He has been mentored by Scott over the last few years and he understands and knows his athletes quite well. The kids know and understand where he’s coming from and I think it will be a very good, easy transition.
“I think the other big thing that comes into play is that Scott recommended him.”
It’s not the first time Miller has followed a big name. When re-joining the cross-country program as an assistant in 2013 Miller replaced former Stillwater standout Ben Blankenship, who was coaching with the Ponies while finishing up an All-American career at the University of Minnesota on the way to eventually becoming an Olympic finalist. Taking over for Christensen provides another high bar to reach.
“I’ve got some big shoes to fill for sure,” Miller said. “It’s kind of the cool full circle. My first day as a high school cross country runner the first two people I met were Scott and Ben. You never know where life is going to take you, so make sure that you show up to opportunities when they present themselves. It can be life changing.
“My heart is definitely with the program for all that it has given me. I wasn’t intentionally looking for or planning (to become the head coach), but it’s that balance of not obsessing over it because I knew what the exchange would be — that Scott is moving out of it. That’s the linear progression of life, but I always tried to be ready in case that moment came up because Scott would advocate for being ready. I’m just very excited about the opportunity and very grateful to have had such a foundational time with Scott over the past decade.”
It was a running career that began with modest expectations and no long-term goals for Miller at the time.
“I came out for cross-country to get into shape for basketball and was very much more of a top-end JV guy,” Miller said. “We had a fantastic group of seniors in 2005 and that just made it so fun.
“I just fell in love with the camaraderie of the team and the clear-cut subjectivity of the sport. You are what the clock says you are. It was just a really refreshing sport for me.”
The Ponies finished second at state behind Willmar that first season and his passion for running only grew from there — with some helpful alumni motivation.
“The extent of my running prior to that was just getting in shape to finish the Lumberjack Days 5K with my dad,” Miller said.
That event provided a “wow” moment for Miller when former Ponies standouts, NCAA All-Americans and sub-four-minute milers Sean Graham and Luke Watson ran in the 10-mile race and crossed the finish line at the same time — just a week after both runners raced in the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Sacramento.
“That was kind of a pivotal running memory that did inspire me to run,” Miller said. “I watched Sean and Luke come across and I was standing right by the finish line and it just blew me away how fast they were going when I did the math.”
Much like his coaching predecessor, Miller wants to have a positive impact for athletes and whatever their expectations are for the sport. His work with the team this summer began even before he was named head coach on July 17. Sixteen members of the team also departed on a parents-led high altitude training trip to Wyoming earlier this week.
Miller feels fortunate to have experienced slightly different, but effective coaching styles from Christensen and long-time St. John’s coach Tim Miles.
“Tim is a phenomenal social emotional coach and perfect in the college system at building an independence and ownership related to running that is perfect for that age level and complements Scott’s scientific approach as well,” Miller said. “I feel so fortunate to have had both of them.”
They have provided the road map and Miller will draw from both, but things won’t always look or sound the same.
“I think in some of the early conversations I’ve tried to have with the boys and have tried to send is that if I’m not authentic to who I am, that’s going to show through in practice and our daily interactions,” Miller said. “After time, things reveal themselves and you’re not coaching to your full potential. Continuing to coach the athlete and not just the sport and building those relationships with kids is what unlocks the true potential of that athlete.
“I have some strengths and I can use my current age and time in the classroom to relate to kids, but I also lack about 35 extra years of coaching knowledge so there are strengths and weaknesses brought to it. But the relationship piece with the athletes is something I look to build on along with Scott’s scientific approach to bring the most out of the kids.”
Miller knows there is some pressure that comes with taking over a program with Stillwater’s pedigree,
“I was just watching the ‘Break Point’ documentary and they used the Billy Jean King quote that ‘pressure is a privilege’. The work Scott has put into building this program into a state and even national presence is a gift,” Miller said. “It feels like a really cool uncle is handing over the keys to a classic Ferrari he’s had since the 80s. He’s taught me to be a life-long learner in the sport and that is an inspiration to me that there are always slight changes to be made to make things better and build upon the past.”
Helping the transition will be a strong cast of returning runners from a team that won conference and section titles before placing seventh at state a year ago.
“That was a hard part of Scott’s decision is we have a fantastic junior class coming in and good senior leadership and strong underclassmen runners,” Miller said. “He was very kind to leave the program in the state that it is because I know that was a very difficult decision and that there’s not just one or two promising runners, but there is a whole stable.”
There are also significant differences in leading the program as its head coach, he admitted.
“Obviously there’s the administrative side of things,” Miller said. “I think to an even greater degree, and this was done so well by Scott, you are the model for what you want your team to be. If you’re telling them to never be too high, never too low, you have to try and meet that same request yourself in your actions. I’ve tried to model that as an assistant, to see how you take it in stride and how you respond to that adversity.”
And it is Stillwater’s past and the expectations created over the past four decades that will help carry the program forward.
“It’s sort of like combining our two areas, we have science and history,” Miller said. “It’s looking at the past and what has worked well and trusting in that throughout the season and having 40 years of evidence to support what we’re doing.
“Winning isn’t everything, but it’s right up there. Simply meaning, those victories at the individual and team level are you being the best version of yourself in that race. It’s fun to be around a winning program, or at least one that has a chance to win each time you toe the line.”
Miller knows situations will arise and that advice will always be available on request.
“(Christensen) did say one thing near the end, which was that you don’t know what you don’t know yet, and that’s OK,” Miller said. “I think just trying to sell me on the point that you’ve been a student of the sport but there will be things that happen that no course can prepare you for until you’re in that moment. That’s when you go to grad school on your coaching experience.”
“Other than my father, there has not been a male figure who has had a larger impact on my life than Scott Christensen. I told him I’m going to keep texting, calling and e-mailing until my number is blocked.”50 -
Stillwater boys team is #4 in MN in these rankings
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What People Are Talking About On LetsRun